By the Imperial period, the large public buildings that crowded around the central square had reduced the open area to a rectangle of about 130 by 50 meters. This is the case despite attempts, with some success, to impose some order there, by Sulla, Julius Caesar, Augustus and others. Unlike the later imperial fora in Rome-which were self-consciously modelled on the ancient Greek plateia (πλατεῖα) public plaza or town square-the Roman Forum developed gradually, organically, and piecemeal over many centuries. This returned the political center to the Forum until the fall of the Western Roman Empire almost two centuries later. The reign of Constantine the Great saw the construction of the last major expansion of the Forum complex-the Basilica of Maxentius (312 AD). This new Forum, in what proved to be its final form, then served as a revitalized city square where the people of Rome could gather for commercial, political, judicial and religious pursuits in ever greater numbers.Įventually much economic and judicial business would transfer away from the Forum Romanum to the larger and more extravagant structures ( Trajan's Forum and the Basilica Ulpia) to the north. Some 130 years later, Julius Caesar built the Basilica Julia, along with the new Curia Julia, refocusing both the judicial offices and the Senate itself. Over time the archaic Comitium was replaced by the larger adjacent Forum and the focus of judicial activity moved to the new Basilica Aemilia (179 BC).
The Senate House, government offices, tribunals, temples, memorials and statues gradually cluttered the area. This is where the Senate-as well as Republican government itself-began. Other archaic shrines to the northwest, such as the Umbilicus Urbis and the Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), developed into the Republic's formal Comitium (assembly area). These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.
The Roman Kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.įor centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches and the nucleus of commercial affairs. The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( Italian: Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum ( plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. it /en /area /the-roman-forum /Īncient Roman architecture, Paleochristian architectureĪncient Rome and the fall of the Republic Largely neglected from the 8th century AD onward
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